Written by Kianna Best on May 25, 2023. Posted in General Interest

Goteborg Nostradamus report predicts restructuring of film and television industry over next 5 years

On Monday 22 May at the Marché du Film during Festival de Cannes, Göteborg Film Festival presented its 10th Nostradamus Report. Titled Everything Changing All At Once, the report explores AI’s involvement in audiovisual industry workflows, adapting the industry to Gen-z’s expectations of more diverse creative environments, and how to embrace the changing models, formats and distribution paths in the business of filmmaking. With nine points explored in the report, there is a concise overview of the steps towards moving seamlessly with the evolving industry.

Image courtesy of John Adams by Unsplash

The report stated: “With production technologies changing and democratizing, filmmaking is about to become incredibly exciting again. At the same time film and TV production volumes will contract for a few years, so it’s especially important not to make short-sighted choices. To remain relevant and attractive for audiences and talent, we can’t afford to now sacrifice workforce diversity, a healthy work environment, or investment in content for younger audiences.“

Most notably from the report, there is a prediction that in the next 3 to 5 years, AI will be fully integrated into the film and television production process. Expected to “unlock resources and creative capacity,” AI will restructure the industry as we know it, consequentially leading to certain jobs starting to disappear and most of them changing. Looking to the future, there is also an expectation for the economy to “place a damper” on the industry, but this will make way for new production technologies to arise and benefit the sector.

Gen-Z and future generations of audiences and creatives alike have begun to demand a shift in the content they are absorbing. The report shows the awareness of Gen-z’s impact of transforming industry work environments that is labelled as honing a “lack of diversity and abysmal work environment.” New platforms will increasingly become more relied upon for the film and television industry, learning from the creator economy.

“Cutting content investment targeted at Gen Z is a very short-sighted strategy for financial as well as ethical reasons, and because a disinterest among young people for their local scripted drama is a threat to the talent pipeline,” the report stated.

The presentation of the report at the Marché du Film’s impACT x Cannes Next programme was conducted by media analyst and author Johanna Koljonen. It was then followed by a panel consisting of some of the report’s interviewees including CEO of Reinvent Studios Rikke Ennis, director of London Film School Neil Peplow and Sten-Kristian Saluveer, founder and CEO at Storytek Innovation and Venture Studio. Other expert interviewees in the report included Sened Dhab, VP of Young Adult Drama at France Télévisions, EndemolShine Finland head of scripted Max Malka, Film and TV Charity CEO Alex Pumfrey, In Transit Production managing director Danna Stern and Will Richmond, editor and publisher of VideoNuze.